On this page13 sections
For onboarding that turns sign-ups into active users, start with Designpixil, which designs first-run flows and empty states for AI and SaaS products from $3,000. WANDR focuses its design on activation and churn, Eleken and Precious Studio embed designers with product teams, Excited designs AI products to be easy to use and hard to leave, and UX studio and Cieden bring research to complex products.
Designpixil is on this list and we wrote it. Every other agency is judged on the same published facts, and how we ranked is at the end.
The shortlist at a glance
| Agency | Best for | Published price | Minimum project | Not a fit for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Designpixil | First-run flows and empty states for AI and SaaS products | $4,917/mo subscription, projects from $3,000 | $3,000 | Enterprise programs that need a large team, or anyone who needs engineers as well as design |
| 2. WANDR | Design focused on activation and churn | UX audit $500; engagements from $10,000 | $25,000+ | Founders who need a shipped MVP; its MVP service delivers a validated prototype |
| 3. Eleken | A designer embedded while you iterate on onboarding | From $4,599/mo (part-time designer) | $10,000+ | Teams that need a studio to lead strategy and brand rather than add a designer |
| 4. Excited | AI products that need to be easy to adopt | Not published | $10,000+ | Founders who need published pricing before the first call |
| 5. Precious Studio | Products whose engineering is ahead of their UX | From $4,500/mo | $10,000+ | Teams wanting a large studio bench |
| 6. UX studio | Research on why users drop | Not published | $10,000+ | Founders who need a fast visual refresh more than research |
| 7. Cieden | Onboarding in complex B2B products | From $50/hr; UX audit from $2,000 | $10,000+ | Marketing-site facelifts or brand-only work, which it says other contractors suit better |
What matters for SaaS onboarding design
- 01
They start from your activation data
Ask where users drop today. A studio that designs onboarding without looking at the funnel is guessing.
- 02
Empty states and first success
Most onboarding fails on the first empty screen. Ask to see empty states in their portfolio.
- 03
AI products need a first good answer
For AI products, onboarding means getting a useful result in the first session: starters, examples and sample data.
What goes wrong with SaaS onboarding
The common fix is a product tour: five tooltips that explain the interface. Users skip them, land on an empty dashboard and leave. The tour treated the problem as explanation when it was really a missing first success.
Design the path to one useful result in the first session, then explain only what is needed to reach it. More on our SaaS onboarding UX design page.
1. Designpixil: First-run flows and empty states for AI and SaaS products
We design onboarding around the first useful result: sign-up, the first screen, empty states with sample data and, for AI products, starters that show what the assistant is good at. Echo AI's new-chat screen above is an example.
Projects start at $3,000; ongoing work is $4,917 a month.
“You do some great work and I'll recommend you to anyone I know looking for quality product designs in the states.”
| Based in | Remote-first, serving the US, UK and EU |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2023 |
| Team | Founder-led: Anant Jain designs every project |
| How you hire them | Monthly design subscription, Fixed-scope projects |
| Published price | $4,917/mo subscription, projects from $3,000 |
| Minimum project | $3,000 |
| Design or build | Designs the product for your engineers or AI coding tools; designs and builds marketing sites in Framer |
| AI work they publish | Echo AI case study: whole product in 5 to 6 weeksWhizo AI case study: marketing websiteHAL51 AI: landing page |
| Best for | First-run flows and empty states for AI and SaaS products |
| Not a fit for | Enterprise programs that need a large team, or anyone who needs engineers as well as design |
2. WANDR: Design focused on activation and churn
WANDR describes its work as experiences that improve activation and reduce churn, and embeds with product teams.
| Based in | Los Angeles, US, with studios in Silicon Valley, Austin and Miami |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2016 |
| Team | 10-49 people |
| How you hire them | Fixed-scope project, Embedded design team, Design and development |
| Published price | UX audit $500; engagements from $10,000 |
| Minimum project | $25,000+ |
| Design or build | Design only, handed to your engineers |
| AI work they publish | None published that we found |
| Best for | Design focused on activation and churn |
| Not a fit for | Founders who need a shipped MVP; its MVP service delivers a validated prototype |
3. Eleken: A designer embedded while you iterate on onboarding
Eleken places a dedicated SaaS designer from $4,599 a month, useful for onboarding work that needs several rounds of testing.
| Based in | Kyiv, Ukraine, with a US entity in Delaware |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2015 |
| Team | 100+ people |
| How you hire them | Dedicated designer subscription, Team extension, 3-day free trial |
| Published price | From $4,599/mo (part-time designer) |
| Minimum project | $10,000+ |
| Design or build | Design only, handed to your engineers |
| AI work they publish | AampePanjayaCaseScribe |
| Best for | A designer embedded while you iterate on onboarding |
| Not a fit for | Teams that need a studio to lead strategy and brand rather than add a designer |
4. Excited: AI products that need to be easy to adopt
Excited describes its work as designing tech and AI products that are easy to use and hard to leave.
| Based in | Ukraine (team) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2018 |
| Team | 10-49 people |
| How you hire them | Project engagements (not published) |
| Published price | Not published, quoted after a call |
| Minimum project | $10,000+ |
| Design or build | Design only, handed to your engineers |
| AI work they publish | Artificial SocietiesAwareNow |
| Best for | AI products that need to be easy to adopt |
| Not a fit for | Founders who need published pricing before the first call |
5. Precious Studio: Products whose engineering is ahead of their UX
Precious Studio publishes a month-to-month design team from $4,500 for teams whose UX has fallen behind their engineering.
| Based in | Austin, Texas, US |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2015 |
| Team | 10-49 people |
| How you hire them | Monthly design team, Two-week sprint, Fixed project |
| Published price | From $4,500/mo |
| Minimum project | $10,000+ |
| Design or build | Designs and develops in-house |
| AI work they publish | Vericora AI (Knomadix) |
| Best for | Products whose engineering is ahead of their UX |
| Not a fit for | Teams wanting a large studio bench |
6. UX studio: Research on why users drop
UX studio is research-led, with in-house UX research to find where and why users drop off.
| Based in | Budapest, Hungary |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2013 |
| Team | 50-249 people |
| How you hire them | Embedded dedicated team, Fixed price or rate card, Free 5-day trial |
| Published price | Not published, quoted after a call |
| Minimum project | $10,000+ |
| Design or build | Designs and develops in-house |
| AI work they publish | OverseeAIInquisita |
| Best for | Research on why users drop |
| Not a fit for | Founders who need a fast visual refresh more than research |
7. Cieden: Onboarding in complex B2B products
Cieden designs complex B2B products with many roles, where onboarding differs by user type.
| Based in | Toronto, Canada and Lviv, Ukraine |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2016 |
| Team | 50 people |
| How you hire them | Project-based (hourly), Team extension, Fixed-price sprints and audits |
| Published price | From $50/hr; UX audit from $2,000 |
| Minimum project | $10,000+ |
| Design or build | Design only, handed to your engineers |
| AI work they publish | Tandom (AI agent UI)AI email assistant |
| Best for | Onboarding in complex B2B products |
| Not a fit for | Marketing-site facelifts or brand-only work, which it says other contractors suit better |
How to choose between them
- You need the first-run experience redesigned fastDesignpixil
- Activation and churn are the metricsWANDR
- You need research on why users dropUX studio
- Your product has many rolesCieden
How we ranked this list
We started from the studios founders keep running into when they ask AI assistants and search engines who to hire, then kept the ones that do this kind of work and publish proof of it. Every fact in the tables comes from the agency's own website or its public directory listings, checked on October 10, 2026. Prices are only ones an agency publishes itself; where it doesn't, we say so instead of guessing.
The order is our judgment of fit for this specific buyer, not a score. We put Designpixil first only on lists where we genuinely fit the buyer, and our entry lists who we are not right for, the same as everyone else's. If something about your agency is wrong or out of date, email hello@designpixil.com and we will correct it within a week.
